Day 11: Awwww, Puddin'.

 My poor body is finally getting used to no caffeine (although I did just subconsciously type 'upset' instead of 'used'. It is to laugh) and I woke up and got kicking this morning without noticeable grogginess. I even got to sleep in this morning, thanks to a midnight walk with the dog (about 5k) that just tuckered her right out!

this is my dog for reference, since I talk about her a lot.

altogether now...awwwwww.

Anyway. I decided to mix it up a little bit and have just a juice, instead of a smoothie for breakfast-
for future reference, this makes exactly a pint. If you like your juice in pints, you're in luck!

1 cup watermelon
1 tangelo
1 cup of whole medium sized strawberries (about 5)
1 cup blueberries.

and I ate the banana seperately. The juice was incredibly invigorating and I could feel it doing me good right away. Thanks, fruit sugars!

For some reason I've been hungry all damned day. Again. I am guessing it's just par for the course with this cleanse- which is so odd for me. In the past, I've associated my cleanses with also abstaining from eating a lot, fasting and such. Being able to shovel fruit and vegetables into my face is pretty much the best.  The juice didn't have any almond milk in it , and I suspect that's why I got hungry again so soon. That and walking the dog.

Regardless, I needed a mid morning snack, which looked like 3 figs, a small handful of raisins and a handful of baby carrots.
...
which held me for about an hour, and then I decided to have a smoothie for lunch, since we'd recently re-stocked on spinach. Mmmm. Spinach smoothie.

You know, if you'd told me that I'd be craving spinach smoothies a month ago, I would have looked at you funny. But they're REALLY good!!!

1 cup almond milk
2 bananas
2 cups spinach.

blended well, with some more baby carrots on the side.

I can always tell when my body wants something badly, I'll just touch the glass to my lips and I blink and then I've inhaled the whole damned thing. Thanks, body! Keep up the good work.

a note on almond milk: if you're buying pre-made almond milk, not all brands are created equal. They vary *substantially* in caloric and fat contents, so always read the labels! You can get almond milk as low as 30 calories a cup and as high as 150+. Caveat Emptor.

I had a busy afternoon cleaning the house so I was in the mood for something substantial for an early dinner/afternoon 'snack'. I opted to have another of the mushroom burgers that we had last night for dinner. They are even better the next day; residual over-moisture is gone and you're just left with a nutty, mushroomy taste with spices. Delightful! They're pretty fatty though which was good since I'd had an active morning that continued into the afternoon- more cleaning, a decent walk to replenish our fruit supplies and playing with the dog (and the boyfriend).

I was still holding strong with that mushroom burger when it was dinner time, so I just had some crudite  with some dip I made. Most dip recipes are super delicious because they're sneakily high in fat. Nuts, nut butters, oil etc. I'm just looking for something to jazz up my cauliflower florets, and not add a lot of extra anything except flavour.

So, I headed to the fridge for Food Science (!) and ended up with this:

1 zucchini
2 cups diced eggplant
1 cup of dill
2 T garlic
1 T dehyd onion
dash lime juice
pepper
salt
red pepper flakes

Its not bad- It would be richer if, of course, it had some cashews or tahini blended into it. But it has a tangy fresh green taste, is zero fat and zings up the raw veggies so, mission accomplished.  The eggplant imparts quite a creamy texture to the dip which is nice!

But after looking at my stats for the day, I realised that I was way too low on carbs so I had to eat some more as a little after dinner snack. WOE IS ME. I whipped up this little number, mint chocolate pudding.

2 bananas
3/4 cup almond milk
1 T raw cocoa powder
2-3 sprigs of fresh mint as desired or mint essence, 1 tsp.

blend and pop it in the freezer for 15 minutes and devour like rabid wolverines. OM NOM NOM.

my energy has been really good all day and my mood has been great. I feel like I got a lot done today, and that always makes me feel super. However, doing this all day has made me hungry all day and I feel a bit like I've spent the whole day eating. Which I suppose is the opposite of a problem, since I do love food.  I can imagine that, for others, it could get old pretty fast though.

Here's what I ate today: I thought I saw a pudding cup! I weighed myself this morning and was 168.8lbs.

Let's Get Physical!

This raw cleanse is really working well for my physical fitness!

The morning after I decided to see how many crunches I could do before my abs started cramping (and stopped at 120 because I got tired of counting, not because I got cramped) my abs started to really pop, which shouldn't be surprising.

The surprising this was that I had no muscle ache, either in my abs or my arms, which I had also worked out that day. I had obviously exerted the muscles and toned and gotten new muscle (I build muscle very easily, which is really funny for a long-time vegan. Take that, whey protein!) but I didn't feel like I had done *anything* the day before.

I walk a *lot* during my days at work, and I am constantly up and down the stairs, often carrying heavy boxes. I've noticed in this past week that it seems that I can feel every individual muscle in my legs and glutes as I go up and down the stairs. I'm much more conscious of the movement of the individual muscles and how the are working to move me. It's pretty neat. Also I find myself getting less out of breath during a hike than I used to. I feel internally as if my lower intestines are a little bloated, but when I look in the mirror I'm waaaay flatter through the tummy than I feel. Body dysmorphia is weird.

I'm going to work out again in a few minutes, and we'll see what my body does, this time!

I love experimenting on my body with different diets, cleanses and fasts. It's a great way to learn how your body works, what you as an individual respond best to in terms of exercises and nutrition. Our bodies are an awe-inspiring flesh machine that we have to tinker with. Really, it's the only thing we can completely call our own!

Be fearless in your pursuit of self-knowledge. It's a lot of fun.